How was your ride? May 22-25

The week is 20% done, but it still feels like the first day of work.

I finally swapped the studded tires for slicks and repacked the wheel bearings while I was at it, so I had a nice smooth ride this morning.

Forums: 

new bike

My first day with my new "summer" bike. Am hanging up the other one until next snowfall - hopefully that's not this week!! hahah

Goslings

Nice ride in this morning. Saw a group of 8-12 goslings with 3-4 adults around. They were right at the edge of the path, just a few hundred meters west of Crowchild Tr. on the northside MUP. A nice way to start the day.

Bylaw police?

Saw some bylaw officers at the bottom of Sovereign Cres./top of the pathway leading down to the river and Crowchild bridge.  They didn't have any equipment set up, so I'm not sure if they were after speedy cyclists or not.  That would be a weird place to set up a speed camera though.

Saw that too

When I went by (815ish), there was a bylaw vehicle, as well as a  regular police car, so I ended up crusing slowly into DT just in case, but didn't see any sign of them anywhere.  Maybe they were cracking down on someone's hedge being too high in the neighbourhood or something Laughing

2-stroke stake out

It would be nice if they were waiting to catch the gas-powered mountain bike dude(s) who cruises that section of the path.  I got buzzed/passed by one of them a couple of weeks ago by the Pumphouse, doing a good 50 km/h.

Have you reported this

I have used 311 to report e-bikes doing over 50 on the pathways. It's not even close to safe and if its happening it should be reported.

If you know of repeat users with a similar route, and time of travel, then they can easily be caught, ticketed, and hopefully convinced to ride on the road (or at least slow down on the path).

Warm

Didn't realize it was going to be that warm this morning, 5:30am it was 12C.  No complaints here!  Great ride in.  


Also noticed at the 3 Ave/8 St SW junction there is a sign posted "Bike Project Coming".  Did some digging to see what they have in mind for that problematic spot.


http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation/TP/Pages/Cycling/Cycling-Route-Improvements/3-Avenue-and-8-Street-S.W.-intersection-pathway-connection.aspx


 

Didn't Realize...

...that this was posted here when I put up the info at http://bikecalgary.org/node/3422. It may be easier to track comments or feedback under its own posting. Sorry for the duplication and thanks for the heads up. This work is something that has been a long time in coming.

All hail!

The ride in today was nice and easy, but I got caught in the hail on the way home.  Uphill, headwind, hail.  

IT'S SUMMER! Laughing

HAIL YEAH!

I went to work later this morning as I had to transfer my mom from one hospital to the other (FMC to PLC) so I got to ride in in the sunshine and unobstructed paths!   BTW - she shared a room with "ride" for a couple of nights, so I got to catch up with him on things, saw him yesterday as well.


 


Anyways, back to the weather, great ride in enjoying the sun, then coming home was ????? 


 


This morning, I noticed that the "stencil guy/girl/team?" has been busy with the bike-lane painting from lower Montgomery all the way to downtown!  Good Deal!  I think they probably used some good reflective paint as well, but I did notice a considerable amount of overspray, that will probably soon disappear, oh well....


 


On the way home, I got the Full Meal Deal!  Rain, Hail, Thunder & Lightning!  The river looked pretty full, so let's see what happens during the rest of this week!


 


 

Pounded

I think I rode right up the middle of that storm. I was pretty sure I was getting ahead of the rain but then the hail started and it really hit hard. I kept going because shivering under a bridge didn't seem like something I wanted to do either. Interestingly the path above Home Road was completely covered in hail and I wasn't sure if it would cause me some problems on my slicks. Anyway, made it home a bit chilly and sore but without major mishaps.

STUCK UNDER A BRIDGE!

I noticed that while going home as well!  There were about 5 people under the 10th Street Bridge on the North side of the river and maybe about a dozen under Crowchild.  I didn't see any BBQ's or beer kegs, so I kept going.  My feet and shorts were soaked through already, and I had several hail strikes through the holes in my helmet, so I just kept going.


 


By the time I got to Bowmont Park, it had quit raining, so I peeld off my raincoat and it was great!


 


We'll see what the next few days bring.  My fan has been on all night in the basement drying my stuff.  Note to self - pack the rain booties tomorrow.  Oh, what a life .....

I must have been on the trail

I must have been on the trail same time as you and BClark, saw the crowds under the bridges but I couldn't get any wetter (or so I tho't) so I kept going, the lightning was making me nervous and the hail was pinging off my helmet - it was the tidal wave as an SUV went thru' that low spot on Memorial right as I was passing that did the final insult, truly it hit me in the chest! That is insane. This morning had to use an old pack while my good one is still drying out, and an old pair of shoes, yech.

The Tsunami Zone

I was watching when I came through that spot and guess what was coming?  A Big F' Garbage Truck!  I looked at the size of the tires (at least 15' or 16" across, and thought "Those are going to kick off a pretty good wave,"  so i cranked up the speed and got by the puddle just before he hit it!

I stayed late

I have a great view of the weather coming in from the southwest, and at 4:30 I called my wife and told her I'd wait for the storm to pass and come home late.

My concern was that I was wearing my new pretty cycling shoes and I didn't want to get them dirty! Embarassed

After the rain stopped I hopped on the bike, and was crawling along at the speed limit for once (averaging about 19km/h) so that I wouldn't get any spray from my wheels. I figured I'd hit memorial and hopefully the cars would have dried the road enough for me to pick up the pace without getting wet feet.

My plan was working perfectly, I his memorial at 29th St and was cruising along nice and dry all the way into Bowness when suddenly an isolated rain shower soaked me through for about 10 blocks.

Oh well, had a great ride anyway.

 

Missing fountain

I forgot my water bottle this morning and thought I'd get a quick drink at the fountain located on the side of the washrooms at Edworthy park. But as I approached all I saw was a light patch on the wall where the fountain used to be.

Does anyone know if they've put a new one in somewhere else? I was in a rush this morning so I didn't slow down to look around.

You can say that again. I

You can say that again. I have been relegated to working nights all week to cover the labor disruption here at wor, so when I would normally be going home with that nasty wind, instead I was fighting it all the way.

On a super posotive note. I saw Calgary's finest ticketing and educatiing drivers on 10th ave who thought they were too important to use the road instead of the bike lane. I stopped and thanked them.

As I rode home westwards, I

As I rode home westwards, I would occasionally get more of a head wind, and then a  slight cross tail wind as the path meandered along. It made me think of all the poor people who had to ride northbound yesterday. It must have been hard going.

I'm glad to hear of the reverse though. For me there are few things more fun on a bike than a strong tailwind that lets you pace (or pass) traffic.

Mother Nature

Taking into account Tues hail and lightning storm, yesterdays mega wind home bound, today's drizzle seems almost pleasant! What's not pleasant is once again having 11th street SW closed for constrcution and having to reroute thru' the 4 way at 10th & 8th. Oh well.....this too shall pass.

Yeah.. that wind was rough!

Yeah.. that wind was rough!  My ride home is in a NW direction.. so I had either a crosswind or a headwind the whole way home.  It was COLD too!  I was pretty chilled by the time I got home because I don't have a proper jacket or pants yet.. just shorts and tshirt.  

In hindsight.. the downpour on Tuesday night was way better to ride in than that cold wind!